お / ご Japanese Grammar Lesson

お / ご Japanese Grammar Lesson

Grammar Type: Prefix

Essential Meaning: Prefix indicating politeness

Construction:

お / ご + (い-Adjective / な-Adjective)
- E.g. お暑あつい [Hot]
- E.g. ご丁寧ていねい [Polite]

お / ご + Noun
- E.g. お弁当べんとう [Bento]
- E.g. ご飯はん [Food / Rice]

Notes:

お is used with nouns, adjectives, and verbs to express politeness, humility, and respect (the polite / humble verb forms お~になる and お~する are discussed separately). ご means the same thing as お, but is used with Chinese-origin words (more about that below).

お + Adjective is always used in a polite sense (as opposed to a humble sense). In other words, when affixed to an adjective, お is used to praise someone else and not to denigrate oneself.
- E.g. Simple Polite (i.e. generally polite): 毎日まいにちお暑あついですね。[It’s hot every day, isn’t it?]
- E.g. Honorific Polite (i.e. to honor someone of higher social status): 上田うえださんはテニスがお上手じょうずですね。[Ueda-san is good at tennis, isn’t he?]

お + Noun is can express either politeness OR humility.
- E.g. Simple Polite: お野菜やさいが高たかくなりましたね。[The vegetables have gotten expensive, haven’t they?]
- E.g. Honorific Polite: 先生せんせいがお手紙てがみをくださいました。[The teacher gave me a letter.]
- E.g. Humble Polite (i.e. self-denigrating): 明日あしたお電話でんわをさしあげます。[I will call you tomorrow.]

Some nouns always take お / ご regardless of context.
- E.g. お腹なか [Stomach]
- E.g. ご飯はん [Rice / Food]

There are some restrictions for using お /ご. Namely, お / ご can not be attached to the following types of words:
- (1) Adjectives and nouns that begin with お
  - E.g. *おおもしろい [Interesting]
  - E.g. *おおいしい [Delicious]
  - E.g. *おおおきい [Big]
  - E.g. *おおじさん [Uncle]
  - E.g. *おおび [Belt]
- (2) Long words (longer than ~2 syllables)
  - E.g. *おジャガイモ [Potato]
  - E.g. *おほうれんそう [Spinach]
- (3) Foreign loan words (except for certain idiomatic exceptions)
  - E.g. *おエレベーター [Elevator]
  - E.g. *おクリスマス [Christmas]
  - E.g. *おバター [Butter]
  - Exceptions: おビール [Beer], おタバコ [Tobacco] These are examples of loan words that are so commonplace in Japanese that they are generally regarded as native Japanese words.

Generally speaking, お is used for Japanese origin words and ご is used for Chinese origin words. But there are a handful of notable exceptions. A distinguishing feature of Chinese-origin words is that they lack any trailing hiragana (AKA okurigana), whereas Japanese-origin words typically contain okurigana.
- Words that take ご:
  - (1) Most Chinese-origin な-Adjectives:
    - E.g.ご親切しんせつ [Kind]
    - E.g. ご丁寧ていねい [Polite]
    - E.g. ご便利べんり [Convenient]
  - (2) Most Chinese origin Nouns:
    - E.g. ご研究けんきゅう [Research]
    - E.g. ご結婚けっこん [Marriage]
    - E.g. ご本ほん [Book]
- Words that take お:
  - (1) All い-Adjectives that don’t begin with お
    - E.g. お寒さむい [Cold]
    - E.g. お暑あつい [Hot]
  - (2) Japanese-origin な-Adjectives
    - E.g. おきれい [Pretty]
  - (3) A handful of Chinese origin nouns. These are so commonplace in Japanese that they are now essentially thought of as native words.
    - E.g. お電話でんわ [Telephone]
    - E.g. お料理りょうり [Cooking]
    - E.g. お時間じかん [Time]
    - E.g. お勉強べんきょう [Study]
    - E.g. お菓子かし [Candy / Confectionary]
  - (4) A handful of Chinese origin adjectives. These are also so commonplace that they are thought of as essentially native words.
    - E.g. お上手じょうず [Skillful]
    - E.g. お元気げんき [Healthy]

Example Sentences:

石田いしだ先生せんせいは英語えいごでお話はなしになった。[Professor Ishida spoke in English.]

私わたしは昨日きのう山崎やまざき先生せんせいにお会あいした。[I met Prof. Yamazaki yesterday.]

今村いまむらさんはゴルフがお好すきです。[Imamura-san likes golf.]

お飲のみ物ものは何なにがよろしいですか。[Would you you like to drink?]

田村たむら先生せんせいは今いまとてもお忙いそがしい。[Prof. Tamura is very busy now.]

宮本みやもとさんの奥おくさんはとてもおきれいだ。[Miyamoto-san’s wife is very pretty.]

野村のむらさんからお電話でんわがありました。[There was a phone call from Nomura-san.]

お昼ひるご飯はんはもう食たべましたか。[Have you already eaten lunch?]

WILD Examples:

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